Lombardo Recalls the Last Conversation He Had With Slayer Members

Former Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo took part in a press conference in Sao Paulo earlier this month ahead of his Brazilian clinic tour, and recalled the last time he had a conversation with someone from the band, Blabbermouth reports.

"We lost communication ever since February 2013," he kicked off. "The only text message I received was [in May 2013] from [bassist/vocalist] Tom[Araya], and he said, 'Dave, Jeff [Hanneman, Slayer guitarist] died.' And that's when I was ... I had just landed. I went to Israel and I did a drum clinic, and I landed in Los Angeles and I received that text from Tom. And that's the last communication I've had."

Lombardo was effectively fired from Slayer after sitting out the band's Australian tour in February/March 2013 due to a contract dispute with the other members of the group. Filling in for him was Jon Dette (Testament, Anthrax). Now, the Slayer drummer is ex-Testament's Paul Bostaph.

In a separate interview with Brazil's Portal7, Lombardo was asked if he has any plans to ever get back together with the members of Slayer. He replied: "I have no plans. I mean, they can knock on my door, but I don't know if I'll answer. [Laughs]"

Lombardo continued: "I don't know. Right now I'm focused on my new band, I'm focusing on my drum clinics, writing music, on staying creative. And I just stay focused and don't let what happened in the past bother me or in any way inhibit my progress with the future."

Lombardo told "Let There Be Talk" podcast about the musical chemistry of the original Slayer lineup: "I appreciate the nucleus of the band. Like [John] Bonham [of Led Zeppelin]. When Bonham was part ofZeppelin. When his son [Jason] took over, oh my God. C'mon. Really? I have respect for Jason and for what he's done, but when he put a double-bass pedal on a single bass drum, that just blew it for me. It's, like, 'Really, dude? Your dad was about single bass.'"

I was really pissed off when Dave got kicked out, especially since I was going to see them like two weeks after it happened.
I still went to watch them at Soundwave and they were pretty good but it just wasn't the same.
Soundwave 2013 was an absolute disaster for drummers with at least 3 other bands also missing theirs!

Bonham specifically didn't need a double pedal, he had enough control to do with one what others (including apparently his son) need two. That's one of the reasons why he was a very interesting, if not great drummer.